'When you hear hoofbeats, think of horses not zebras' - the old adage is well-known to GPs but what should you do when faced with a zebra, not a horse? Consultant cardiologist Professor Robert Tulloh and GP Dr Louise Tulloh kick off our new series with their advice on how to catch Kawasaki disease in general practice.

NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens told HSJ: 'Although there are some good signs of progress on increases in the GP training scheme, nevertheless there are real pressures around retirements.

'The conclusion we’ve come to is that in order to increase the likelihood of being able to have 5,000 more doctors in general practice, we are going to need… a significantly expanded industrial scale international recruitment programme. We intend to launch that in the autumn.'

He added: 'Rather than the current 500 or so GPs that are being targeted for international recruitment…it probably needs to be four times more than that, from international sources - [from the] rest of the EU and possibly New Zealand and Australia.'

Dr Vautrey said: 'They’ve made a commitment to increase medical school placements by 1,500 per year, but it’s going to take a long time to turn those students into doctors. That’s a long-term solution to this problem.

'But we need to look at short-term solutions as well, not least addressing the workload pressure within general practice so we make the job itself more appealing to doctors who have trained within the NHS when they’re making career choices.'

He added that 'applying a sticking plaster by recruiting doctors from abroad can only offer a limited short-term fix, especially when there is uncertainty over freedom of movement following the UK’s exit from the EU'.

And that is what it will do, address the numbers . what we need is high quality, well trained , fluent in both the English language an British culture. Not making up of the numbers which causes increase pressure through inappropriate out patient and a&e referrals .
Do they really think good quality Aussie GPS will give up their high earnings and balanced lifestyles to work in the NHS.

Are they going to check the quality of these GP's ? Recruitment to medical school and the GP training is different in different European countries .My parents live part of the year in portugal and have been prescribed some doubtful items at times.

I'm not coming back from Australia, no-one I know here would even dream about it...... that'll be another waste of money.....EU, did they cancel Brexit? Is there a number I can call to wind them up a bit..... lead them on a little, you know they way they've been leading GPs along all these years under false pretences, be nice to give them little taste of their own medicine..... they don't need to waste their time recruiting, how about making the job just more attractive? Its like a ponzi scheme , they need more gullible people to join it to keep it going..... if I was int he Uk Id be thinking Canada right now as Australia looks close to full, but however you can get out, do it....

Looking this in a slightly different angle:Simon arguably is playing the 'vice-health secretary '. The government would not want to lose face on this target of 5000 by 2020 . Hence by all 'means' ( no matter how ostensibly unjustified) , some deals are going to there to lure foreign colleagues to come , at least , initially . Of course , what is to happen is another story individually . In fact , the government may well end up recruiting all 5000 GPs from abroad . That obviously represents a big slap on Agent Hunt's face in terms of relying on home grown GPs. But he has a face of ten thousand inches thick and will serve well in standing up to our mockery , as this is his true role for this government.Question is how much are our representatives going to 'help' the government in recruiting and retaining GPs . That needs some political thinking and wisdom . We all know ,however ,where the college stands ........